


Duality

by lady_summoner



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8130089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_summoner/pseuds/lady_summoner
Summary: (What-if)  A month after Nidhogg's defeat, the Warrior of Light finds herself uneasy about the Warriors of Darkness...and a Warrior of Darkness finds himself uneasy about the Warrior of Light.





	1. Light

**Author's Note:**

> (I'm back with another 'what-if' ficbit! This one takes place after the defeat of Nidhogg. Vaguely implied WoL/WoD.)

The room is warm, the bed has a good mattress, her pillows are firm and her covers are soft.  Yet the Warrior of Light finds she cannot sleep soundly, waking up almost every hour.  Normally she knows her sleep is troubled for a long while after major battles.  Nidhogg has only been dead for a moon, so everything is still quite fresh.  Yet it is not the dread wrym that troubles the Warrior of Light on this particular night, nor is it the death-throes of the old way of life in Ishgard.  It is something more personal.  The Warrior of Light feels her own Crystal throb within her chest, an unsettling feeling that makes her reach out for a pillow and hold it close like a toy for comfort. 

_Warriors of Darkness…_   Even the name is enough to make her Crystal pulse again.  Five people who had once been like herself, fighters for Hydaelyn against the Ascians.  The Warrior of Light had tried once to discover who her predecessors were in the previous Eras, but to no avail.  All were lost to the mists of time…including those who had come before her just five years prior.  But that particular mystery wasn’t the thing keeping the Warrior awake.

_Did they fall?  Did the Ascians somehow get their hands on them?  Are they possessing them?_ Given what happened to Thancred, the latter seemed like a logical explanation.  _I thought we were supposed to be protected from Ascian influence and harm…did Hydaelyn’s protection fail?_   The thought makes the Warrior of Light’s stomach twist in a nasty knot of anxiety _.  Was it taken from them?_   Another possibility, given what Midgardsormr had done.  And luckily for the Warrior of Light, by the time she’d encountered Igeyorhm in the Churning Mists, she’d been able to regain some of the Blessing.  Another thought occurs to the Warrior of Light, and the sheer horror of it makes her clutch her pillow even tighter to her with one hand, the other rising to rest just above the place where her Crystal is.

_Did she…take the Blessing away from them?_   A chill snakes through her body, and the Warrior of Light shakes her head.

“Stop it.  You’re just scaring yourself now.”  She says sternly.  “That wouldn’t happen.”  To her Hydaelyn has always been a comfort when she needed it the most, that gentle voice wiping away all fear and giving her courage.  “That sounds like something an Ascian would say.”

_And yet Midgardsormr stripped you of the Blessing._   A small voice whispers in the back of the Warrior’s mind.  _That was supposed to be impossible, yes?_ Closing her eyes, the Warrior of Light shakes her head again.

“She’s weak.”  She murmurs.  Memories of the Antitower flash through her mind.  Hydaelyn is weak from eras of fighting, of continually losing to Zodiark’s followers.  And based on the comments of Krile and Master Matoya, Crystals of Light from the previous eras are far more powerful than their current incarnations.  Which would mean…

_They may be more powerful than I._   Another chill has the Warrior of Light burrowing even deeper into the bedcovers.  _He may be more powerful than I_ …  Closing her eyes, the Warrior of Light can call her dark counterpart perfectly to mind.  Brown hair, blue eyes, wielding that blood-stained Bravura…a midlander hyur like herself.  Were it not for his armor and weapon, she would have thought him to be perfectly ordinary.  A farmer perhaps, or maybe even a hunter.  Perhaps with a sweetheart at home.  Maybe the type of man that once upon a time she would have possibly looked upon with a blush, and hoped that he would notice her. 

_But we were all ordinary once…_   The Warrior of Light opens her eyes.  With a sigh she rises, putting the pillow to the side and striding over to the dresser.  A blue bottle awaits her-a sleeping potion for her most troubled nights.  Carefully the Warrior of Light uncaps it and measures out a dosage, quickly drinking it down and resealing the glass.  It’s late, and she can’t come up with any answers or a plan by chasing her thoughts around.  As she goes back to bed and slips under the covers, she can feel the drug starting to take hold, her mind blissfully starting to shut down and her eyelids growing heavy.  The Warrior of Light has the mind to hug her pillow to her again, reaching behind her and grabbing another one to rest against her back.  Feeling comforted and sleepy, the Warrior of Light closes her eyes.  She can think upon the Warriors of Darkness in the morning…when the light of day can provide clearer thinking than the darkest hours of the night.  The potion does it’s work well, within ten minutes of lying down she’s asleep and dead to the world.  It also has an effect on her aether, weakening the ties she has on her to the protection wards in her room.

As such, she does not awaken when the door to her room opens and closes, and heavy footsteps make their way over to her bed.  Nor does she awaken when the weak winter moonlight shines through a window and gleams on a blood-stained Bravura…


	2. Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Warrior of Darkness finds himself with a sleeping Warrior of Light...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (And here's part 2! When it comes to the Warriors of Darkness I've got a few theories that I crazily like to ponder...but it should be noted however, that we've never heard anything or learned about what happened to Hydaelyn's Chosen in the previous seven eras. All that's really given is that she's always lost to the Ascians, the current WoL is attempt number 8...so just what happened? The possibilities range from good to bad.)

Ever since their encounter outside of Thok ast Thok, she’s been in the back of his mind.  He’d gone about working on his part of the overall plan-now modified due to the events that happened just outside the primal’s lair.  The Warrior of Light was supposed to have been in Ishgard, _**not**_ Dravania.  As such, the Warrior of Darkness and his fellows had been discovered too early.  But everything would have been recovered had it not been for that annoying rogue…  Fingers tightening around Bravura’s handle, the Warrior of Darkness walks toward the bed.  His senses are on high alert, it should have not been this easy for him to gain entry, there should have been an alarm, a ward, even a guard.  As he comes up on the side of the bed, he’s still wary-this would be the perfect time for a trap to go off, or his curse to trigger.  But nothing happens.

 _Does she think she is safe here, then?_   He can see the reasoning if that is the case.  The Blessing of Light automatically protected the Warrior of Light and any building she dwelled in from Ascian intrusion.  That was one of the reasons why he and his fellows were called upon-for being former Warriors of Light themselves, they still had the blessings of the goddess, and as such could go places where the Ascians could not, do things that the Ascians could not…  The Warrior of Darkness’ lips curve into a smirk.  Despite his heart racing and his senses still screaming of possible danger, he reaches one gloved hand up and over, daring to gently rest the back of it on his counterpart’s cheek.  Again nothing happens, his enemy does not awaken, so deep in the depths of slumber is she.

“Not a wise idea for you to have any protections about you.”  The Warrior of Darkness whispers softly.  “Something bad could happen…”  Now instead of danger, he’s being urged to strike.  One quick movement-he can picture it in his mind, Bravura going up and then down-and the deadliest threat to the plan is eliminated.  For despite his bravado, the Warrior of Darkness knows that the woman lying before him is powerful beyond belief, something that should be impossible given Hydaelyn’s current state.  Even at this close range he can feel the Light inside her, burning just beneath her skin, making the power inside of him writhe and shy away.  With all that she’s been through, with what she’s had to do, the blood on her hands-it should be dimmed, she should be struggling.  Old memories rise to the forefront of the Warrior of Darkness’s mind and he grits his teeth, withdrawing his hand. 

 _How is it that she can continue as this?_  His fingers clench into a fist and he closes his eyes.  _Surely by now…she must realize-that goddess doesn’t care!  That all she’ll ever do is pile burden after burden upon her with no reward, no comfort…and when she’s needed the most, she’s not there!_  More memories rise up of their own accord and the Warrior of Darkness finds himself remembering…

_Her songs had turned from joy to sorrow_

_Her healing aether had begun to inflict pain instead of ease_

_He had started to embrace the whispers of the void_

_His sword had started to kill rather to protect_

It had started to become too much for them.  The fighting, the killing, the always inexhaustible power of the Ascians.  Yes, they had been able to achieve some victories, but they hadn’t been enough, weren’t enough to stop the tide.  And no matter how many times they had prayed, begged, pleaded… Hydaelyn had refused to respond. 

 _How? How is she still believing?  How is she so strong?_   Rage is rising in the Warrior of Darkness, making his body tremble.  It’s not fair, it’s not fair-how could she stand before him, stand before them-shining with the goddess’ power, an unshakable pillar, with everything that she’d been put through?  Opening his eyes, the Warrior of Darkness looks at the sleeping woman. 

 _Do it._   A voice urges.  _Do it, quickly!  You may never have such a chance again!  Avenge yourself and your friends!  Once she falls, the goddess will have no-one of her ilk to be her champion…_ The Warrior of Darkness closes his eyes, working on reining in his temper.  Even now he can still be hot-headed…and for something like this, instant gratification will not suffice.  A dark chuckle escapes his lips, and he opens his eyes to look at the sleeping Warrior of Light once more.  Then as if inspired by some mischievous imp, he leans over the bed, his head close to hers, her ear next to her lips.

“Sleep well, my lady.”  He whispers in a mocking tone.  “Enjoy her favor while it lasts.”  The Warrior of Light still does not stir, and the Warrior of Darkness straightens, turning his back on the bed.  Silently he leaves the bedroom and makes his way out Fortemps Manor and onto the streets of Ishgard, pausing only to pull a battered woolen cloak around him.


End file.
